Peppermint Chocolate Brownies

The title of this recipe should have caught your attention. Bunco comes one time a month for us Lunching Ladies and I usually try to make something new instead of using one of my usual recipes. Not that those are bad, but when I saw this recipe in an older issue of Real Simple, I had to go for it.

Wowsers! Am I glad I did because these are wanna-slap-your-mama good (no offense to the moms out there!!). Of course, when you try a new recipe out, my recommendation is to ALWAYS try a piece. You'll notice the lovely bottom left hand corner of the pan where I did....proof!

As I mentioned, this was a recipe I pulled out of a girlfriend's weekend article from Real Simple. OK, I'm totally breaking my rules with finding all local ingredients on this one, but I could have made without using my cheats. I'll let you decide! The best part about these brownies is that they taste like Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies. No lie, people. I thought that I just come back from the grocery store in the U.S. where a group of Brownies had unloaded a box on me.

Peppermint Chocolate Brownies

1 box of brownie mix (Yeah I know, I'm definitely cheating. Use your best brownie recipe to sub in. My from scratch brownies have thus far only been successful when they are a la Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker.)

6 TBsp of butter, softened

3-5 TBsp of milk

3 cups of powdered sugar

1/2 tsp of peppermint extract

Green food coloring, a couple of drops

3 squares of unsweetened dark chocolate (You can use ANY chocolate that melts. I would recommend either Baker's or another dark chocolate bar)

Make the brownies as directed on the box. While they cool, combine the butter, powdered sugar, peppermint extract, milk, and a couple of drops of green food coloring with a mixer until you have a frosting consistency. When the brownies are completely cool, spread the frosting mixture evenly and refrigerate for 30 min-1 hour. Melt chocolate squares as directed and drizzle on cold brownies. Put back in the fridge until chocolate is set. Cut into squares and serve.

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I used a larger pan to bake the brownies, so this batch yielded about 48 brownies. That's fab when you need a lot of something and don't have time make cookies, especially in my house where I have a European sized oven with one rack. I like 'em cold, but I also prefer my Thin Mints kept in the freezer.